Terms and Conditions

INTRODUCTION

1. These Terms and Conditions of Business (“Terms”) are made available to you in compliance with the Code of Conduct and other Regulations made by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). YOU SHOULD READ THESE CAREFULLY as they form the agreement upon which you have requested us to carry out work for you.  You can obtain a copy of the Solicitors Handbook at www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/handbook.
2. In these terms:

“us”, “we”, “Company” all mean Auriga Advocates Ltd (SRA No 614279) at Electra House, Electra Way, CREWE CW1 6GL.

“you”, “your” means the client to whom the terms are addressed (and if more than one to each one).

“work”, “matter” or “case” means the work we are undertaking based on your instructions.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE WORK

3. The person primarily responsible for your work is set out in the covering letter and also who is responsible for supervising your case and contact details for relevant members of staff managing your case.
4. It should be noted that the right is always reserved to refer your case to be dealt with by another person in the Company. This may occur due to a number of reasons eg: holidays, illness inter alia.  You will be advised should it become necessary to permanently transfer your work to another person in the Company.
5. It is our aim to provide a friendly and efficient service. Nevertheless, if at any time there is any aspect of our service which you wish to discuss with us then you should FIRST raise the issue with the fee earner or thereafter if not satisfied their Supervisor.

OUR SERVICES.

6. We aim to offer an efficient, specialist and courteous service and to copy with the standards set out in the Law Society’s Client Charter, copy of which is available from our Office Manager.
7. We will endeavour to ensure that the work that we are instructed to undertake for you is in accordance with the service standard below:
   1. We will update you with progress on your case regularly
   2. We will communicate with you in plain language.
   3. We will explain to you the legal work required as you case progresses
   4. We will update you on any change in fees.
   5. We will update you on whether the likely outcomes still justify the likely costs and risks associated with your case when there is a material change in circumstances.
   6. We will update you with time estimates for each stage of your case, when appropriate.
   7. We will continue to review whether there are alternative methods by which your case can be funded.
8. Our Offices are open from 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday.

YOUR RESPONSIBILTIES

9. In accepting circumstances we would ask that you be aware that you have the following responsibilities as a client:
10. To inform us of any change in your address or telephone number, circumstances relevant to your case, your income or assets;
11. To appear at the Court if so advised by us or if required by any Tribunal or Court;
12. To keep appointments with us or to call us in advance to cancel the appointment;
13. To pay the required fees for our services. All fees are required to be paid in advance of any work being undertaken the Company.
14. To avoid communication with opposing parties or their representatives without prior consultation with ourselves.
15. To provide us with copies of any communication and documents that you may receive from the police or prosecuting authority relevant to your case;
16. To provide us with details of any other matters or proceedings which are pending, or are relevant to your case, and throughout the duration of your case.
17. To provide us with documentation as requested to allow us to conduct money laundering checks.

OUR COSTS

18. You are responsible to pay our costs regardless of the outcome of your case.
19. Our costs are calculated in accordance with the fixed fee schedule enclosed with the letter and these terms conditions.
20. Our costs are payable whether or not your case is successfully concluded or the work completed. If your case does not proceed for any reason during the period that we are instructed by you then we shall be entitled to charge and be paid in respect of work completed.
21. We cannot give any assurances of success with your case and none is implied by us accepting your instructions. You further accept that it is your responsibility to take any decision relating the continuation, or cessation of any litigation or intended litigation to a conclusion or to limit the issues involved if we consider it to be in your best interests to do so save as expressly instructed by you (whether in writing or orally or by reason of your conduct).
22. We will only provide the services in line with the fixed fee agreed if the case proceeds beyond these eg change of plea from guilty plea with a letter of mitigation to one of not guilty and proceeding to trial we will inform you of the fixed fees for that level of service.
23. We pay all costs from the fixed fee payment so there will be no additional charges for disbursements except where these are as a result of added disbursements such as expert report not previously quoted for.

PAYMENT OF OUR FEES

24. It is normal practice for you to pay fees prior to receiving services however if you are funded by an organisation such as an insurance company we will bill the insurance company after the case. We can in higher fee cases accept payment by instalments but the fees must be paid in full prior to the services being provided.
25. Failure to pay in full may result in your case being delayed or us not being able to represent you. Any payments for work undertaken to that point will not be refundable.
26. We reserve the right to suspend work in relation to your case ( and where we consider it appropriate to decline to act for you further) in the event of fees being outstanding and the fees paid for work done up to that date will not be refundable.
27. You can pay by various methods bank transfer (details of which are on the invoice enclosed), credit card, debit card. WE DO NOT ACCEPT CHEQUES OR CASH
28. Please note that we will not commence work until all funds have cleared.
29. Any invoices overdue for 90 days or more will be charged interest at the County Court Rate which is currently 8%.

ORDER FOR COSTS

30. If you are successful and secure an acquittal you may succeed in obtaining an order for defence costs which will be paid by the court, we cannot guarantee that these will cover your fees in full and any monies due to be refunded will be limited to the value of the defence costs order.

TERMINATION OF OUR RETAINER

31. You may end your instructions to us in writing at any time, but we can keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us for fees and expenses.
32. We may decide to stop acting for you with good reason, such as the failure to provide required identity evidence, give sufficient instructions/evidence or a conflict of interest arises. We reserve the right to cease acting if any fees remain outstanding for more than 28 days or if you fail to provide monies on account as requested.  We must give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you.
33. If you or we decide that we should stop acting for you, you will pay our charges up until that point.

LIMITED OF LIABILITY

34. In respect of any neglect and/or default in respect of the matter with which you instruct us and which results in you suffering any loss of any kind shall not exceed £3 million.

MONEY LAUNDERING AND PROCEEDS OF CRIME

35. The law requires solicitors to get satisfactory evidence of the identity of their clients and sometimes people related to them. This is to prevent money laundering.  We will need evidence of your identity as soon as possible.  If you do not have the documents requested you MUST contact us immediately to discuss other methods of confirming your identity.
36. We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential. However, solicitors may be required by statute to make a disclosure to the Serious Organised Crime Agency where they know or suspect that a transaction may involve money laundering or terrorist financing.   If we make a disclosure in relation to your matter, we may not be able to tell you that a disclosure has been made.  We may have to stop working on your matter for a period of time and may not be able to tell you why.  We will not be liable for any loss, damage or delay arising out of the Company’s compliance with any statutory or regulatory requirement.

DATA PROTECTION

37. Under separate cover to these terms of business you will be provided with a Privacy Notice which, subject to your consent/agreement should be signed as well as these terms of business. Please note that we cannot commence work until such time as both documents are signed by you. If you withdraw your consent at anytime we will be unable to continue working for you but the fees paid will be retained by Auriga Advocates unless a refund is agreed and authorised by the Managing Director.
38. All data that is held by Auriga Advocates Ltd or those on our behalf is encrypted, backed up on at least a daily basis, and stored on servers or computers based in the EU. Where data is held on, or capable of being accessed by desktop, laptop or tablet computers, that equipment is:-
39. Password protected.
40. Encrypted
41. Secured by two-factor authentication (ie user id and password)

Auriga Advocates Ltd is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office. We have satisfied ourselves that all third-parties who hold your data on our behalf will comply with GDPR from the date of its commencement.

Auriga Advocates wishes at all times to comply with both the letter and spirit of data protection legislation.  We will work openly with you at all times to resolve any concerns you have.  If you wish to see the data that we hold or request its deletion, please send an email via the website contact page and we will contact you facilitate this.  We aim to comply with all request within 28 working days.  You have the right to have any data which is incomplete or inaccurate rectified by emailing us at [email protected]

39. In relation to all information supplied to us by you and/or required to your case
    1. You consent to us (for the purposes of the GDPR) using all information which we gather about you in our dealings with your case for all or any of the provision of Legal Services to you or on your behalf, the administration of any past, present or future relationship with you, the discharge of any statutory obligations arising from any past present or future relationship with you and /or the provision of information about the services available from us.
    2. We confirm that all such information shall be treated as confidential, but you authorise us to disclose such of the information that we hold about you to third parties in so far as it is necessary for us to discharge and/or under the work you instruct us to do and/or where we are under a legal obligation to disclose such information.
40. THE FOLLOWING IS A TABLE OF WHAT DATA IS STORED AT WHICH STAGE OF YOUR CASE AND WHY

STORAGE OF INFORMATION AND OTHER DOCUMENTS

41. We shall be entitled to retain all papers and other documents received from you or otherwise in our possession (whether arising in connection with the work or otherwise) until all monies due to us (whether in relation to this case or otherwise) have been paid in full.
42. We shall retain the file of papers relating to your case until:
    1. You request the file of papers from us (subject to payment of any administration fee relating to searching, locating, and identifying the documents you are entitled to receive);
    2. After an appropriate period of time when we in our absolute discretion (but in accordance with any relevant guidance issued by appropriate professional or other regulatory bodies) consider that the file of papers can be destroyed.
43. We reserve the right to:
    1. Refuse to accept into safe custody from you any documents or property in our absolute discretion;
    2. Charge an administration charge for time spent on retrieval of documents or property from safe custody.

COMPLAINTS

44. We are committed to high quality legal advice and client care. If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received, or about the fees for your case, please contact the fee earner named in your client care letter in the first instance and thereafter if still not satisfied you should contact the Supervisor who is named in your client care letter. We have a complaints procedure in place and if you wish a copy of the procedure you can obtain one from the Office Manager.
45. If you are still not happy with our handling of your complaint you may contact the Legal Ombudsman at the contact details below. You will normally have six months from the date of our response to you or within 6 years of the act or omission you are complaining about.  Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 69806 Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ telephone 03000 555 0333 www.legalombusdman.org.uk.
46. IF you have a complaint about the control or process of any data held by Auriga Advocates on your behalf you have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

SOLICITORS ACT 1974 ASSESSMENT

47. These terms and the retainer to which they relate DO NOT constitute a contentious business agreement and if at the conclusion of your case you are not satisfied with the amount of costs you may seek to challenge them by way of detailed assessment. You would need to apply to the court to assess the charges made.

PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY INSURANCE

48. In compliance with the statutory requirements of the SRA we maintain a professional indemnity insurance policy, full details of which can be supplied on request.

SECURITY OF COMMUNICATIONS

49. We will aim to communicate with you by the most effective method and you therefore authorise us to communicate with you and others in connection with your case by email or other electronic methods, including text, instant messaging. However we cannot be responsible for the security of correspondence and/or documents sent by email or other electronic means and therefore, have liability if, due to circumstances beyond our control, communications are not received, are delayed or corrupted or are subject to unauthorised access. If you do not wish us to use emails or other electronic communications or if your require enhanced security arrangements ( such as encrypted emails) to be put in place in response to your case(s), please let us know in writing, but there may be additional charges in respect of these arrangements.

YOUR RIGHT TO CANCEL

50. Your contract is governed by the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancelation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. In certain circumstances you will have the right to cancel i.e.  If you entered into an off premises contract (not in our office) ie at court or a distance contract i.e. online or by telephone.
51. You do not have a right to cancel if you enter into a contract at our office.
52. If you have an off premises or distance contract you have the RIGHT TO CANCEL without giving any reason or incurring any liability within the cancellation period or 14 days starting from the day after the contract was entered into.
53. On cancellation we will return to you all payments you have already made prior to cancellation without undue delay and not later than 14 days after the date on which you informed us of y our decision to cancel the contract.
54. To cancel the contract you must inform us of your decision by either using the model cancellation form (attached) or by making a statement of your decision to cancel to our office.
55. If you require us to do work immediately or within the usual cancellation period you will be requested to authorise us to undertake work on your behalf during the cancellation period in writing or by completing the attached authorisation form
56. YOU WILL BE WAIVING YOUR RIGHTS TO CANCEL BY THE REQUEST FOR AUTHORISATION BUT WE WILL NOT UNDERTAKE ANY WORK WITHIN THE CANCELLATION PERIOD WITHOUT SUCH AUTHORISATION.

FUTURE INSTRUCTIONS

57. Unless otherwise agreed with you in writing, any future instructions form you shall be deemed to be upon these Terms of Business.

ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS OR BUSINESS

58. These Terms shall be deemed accepted if:
    1. You sign these Terms; and/or
    2. You continue to instruct us having received a copy of these terms and conditions of business and have taken no steps (within 7 days of receipt) to terminate your instructions with your case.